General Awareness and Current Affairs
This section combines static general awareness with current affairs, weighted toward Indian agriculture, food policy, public institutions, polity, geography, and recent appointments and awards. For CWC JTA, warehousing and food-security facts recur.
Core facts
- Central Warehousing Corporation was set up in 1957 and is a Schedule A CPSE under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. It operates warehouses and container freight stations. FCI is the separate procurement and buffer-stock agency, established in 1965.
- MSP is recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and approved by the CCEA. Procurement is handled mainly by FCI and state agencies.
- e-NAM (2016) is the electronic national agriculture market; PM-KISAN gives income support; PMFBY is crop insurance; NFSA 2013 anchors the PDS.
- Polity: fundamental rights (Articles 12-35), 73rd Amendment (panchayats), 74th Amendment (urban local bodies), President, Governor, and constitutional bodies.
- Geography: crop belts, monsoon behaviour, soil types, and major producing states.
- Current affairs: keep a rolling 6-8 month file on agriculture, warehousing and logistics, appointments, schemes, and sports.
Worked example
Question: Which body recommends the minimum support price? Reasoning: discard NITI Aayog (policy think tank), FCI (procurement), and CWC (storage). MSP is recommended by CACP, then approved by CCEA. Answer: CACP.
Traps
Confusing CWC with FCI; confusing CACP with NITI Aayog; answering current-affairs items from memory of old schemes; and choosing a sounds-official body when the question asks for the recommending versus approving authority.